 Exegesis from de Sá (1530–96), a Portuguese Jesuit theologian and professor of philosophy also known as Emmanuel Sa. The work was first published in 1598; this is the second Cardon printing, following the first of 1609, and features a title-page printed in red and black inside an engraved architectural border composed of numerous symbolic elements including the four Evangelists, Moses with the tablets, and an elder with a censer. The text is set in two columns within a double frame, and decorated with woodcut head- and tailpieces and decorative capitals. This printing is uncommon: WorldCat locatesonly three U.S. institutional holdings.

Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of John Dixon Wortley at the Swannington Rectory, Norfolk; title-page with inked inscription of the Jesuit College of Ingolstadt, dated 1609; binding clasps stamped “WS.”

 DeBacker-Sommervogel, VII, 353; Palau 283173. Binding as above, darkened, vellum chipped at extremities and rubbed over the spine; label in upper spine compartment now lacking and bands rubbed at joints to show cords. Bookplate and inscription as above; first text page with small and attractive blue rubber-stamp of the Libreria Muzi in lower margin. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotation regarding contents; occasional instances of small, neatly done, early inked corrections. Scattered light foxing, with a few leaves gently browned. An attractive, early edition of this well-regarded Jesuit work in a very handsome copy. (36897)

Important Biography of aScholar of theTarascan & Matlaltzinga Languages

 Second edition (first was Mexico, 1664) of the standard biography of Father Basalenque (1577–1651), the Provincial of the Augustinians in Michoacan and the author of Arte de la lengua tarasca, the best colonial-era grammar of the Tarascan (Purépecha) language, and of Historia de la Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentino de Michoacán, del Orden de N.P.S. Agustín, the respected history of his order in Michoacan. He was also an accomplished student of the Matlatltzinga language, leaving unpublished (until the 20th century) several manuscripts.

This work discusses his humility, obedience to the Agustinian rule and vows, and in part his work among the native population.

This second edition additionally contains Lucas Centeno's compilation of the documents relating to the reinterment of Fr. Basalenque's remains in the Convento de Santa María de Gracia in Valladolid (now Morelia), Mexico.

 This is thefirst and only edition of a well-written and footnoted biography of St. Teresa de Jesús. It seeks to rebut negative criticisms and actual charges of harboring vice that had been contained in some 18th-century peninsular publications.

Neither Medina, nor Palau, nor Garritz, nor the cataloguer for the NUC Pre-1956 entry notes a plate as present. The engraved plate in our copy, which is signed “Araoz M.o,” shows St. Teresa kneeling in prayer in her garden. In the background are a lake or a river and a mountain. Christ is seen off to the right, emerging from a stand of trees near the water. In front of the saint are some flowers and other cultivated plants which are being watered by an irrigation system fed by a well; two symbolic doves and a yearning (or dedicated) heart also appear. Below the engraving is a quotation from Ecclesiastes that the saint used in her writings.

The engraver was Manuel de Aráoz, one of the first students of the Mexican Academy of Painting, a noted engraver, and later subdirector of the Academy's department of engraving.

 This is the first and only edition of a well-written and footnoted biography of St. Teresa de Jesús. It seeks to rebut negative criticisms and actual charges of harboring vice that had been contained in some 18th-century peninsular publications.

 Medina, Mexico, 10812; Palau 293431; Garritz 1569. Removed from a nonce volume. Without the sometimes-seen plate, which is not mentioned by Medina or Garritz or Palau; it may be not all copies were issued with it or that it could be added at an additional cost. Fore-edges closely trimmed, touching or costing up to a few letters of some sidenotes. Very good copy. (34495)

 Early edition, following the first complete printing of 1605 (preceded by a partial printing in 1602), of this sometimes controversial, oft-reprinted treatise on marriage, morality, and sexual sin. Each of the three books has its own separate title-page. Brunet calls this “un ouvrage célèbre, à cause de quelques passages singuliers qui s’y trouvent,”while Englisch notes that “Dieses Werk enthalt alle moglichen Variationen uber die Geschlechtssunde in umstandlichster und eingehendster Behandlung,” and Sommervogel simply states that the work caused its author “quelques chagrins” despite the purity and austerity of his personal life (a Jesuit from the time he was 17 years old, the Cordova-born Sánchez was said by his spiritual director to have “carried his baptismal innocence to the grave,” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia online).

 Brunet, V, 115; De Backer-Sommervogel, VII, 532; Englisch, Der erotischen literatur, 145; Palau 294482. Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin, tooled in blind, spine with inked title; binding darkened and scuffed, with clasps now lacking and with leather torn over head and foot of spine (lacking at foot, with underlying vellum showing). Title-page with inked ownership inscriptions dated 1715, later institutional stamp in lower margin, and faint shadows of pencilled notations; front pastedown and one text page also with institutional stamps. Small spots of worming to lower margins of a number of leaves. Pages age-toned, with some instances of marginalia and underlining in early inked hands and occasionally in pencil (a handful of leaves in part III extensively annotated within text); a few spots of foxing, and one leaf with paper flaws partially obscuring a few letters. A big, solid volume. (14459)

 After consecration and service in Spain, Sancho de Santa Justa arrived in Manila in 1767 to take up his duties as archbishop, which includedoverseeing the expulsion of the Jesuits. He was a native of Aragon and a member of the Society of Scholarum Piarum. In this address on the occasion of Charles III's 67th birthday, he expresses himself no friend of many of the Enlightment's ideas but a staunch supporter of the King, his economic policies, and especially of the newly instituted practice of free commerce in the Spanish empire. On the other hand, he rails against England, its foreign commercial practices, and its ascension as a maritime powerhouse.

The work is printed on “rice paper” (i.e., Asian paper probably from the mulberry tree) as was common in Manila during the period to ca. 1820. The typography is definitely provincial and plain, using only one decorative woodcut initial and no ornamentation on the title-page. The type is roman in a variety of sizes with a practice of using all capitals for emphasis.

The press on which this work was printed had been that of the Jesuits until Archbishop Sancho de Santa Justa carried out the king's order and expelled them; he then appropriated the press for his private use, as here. What had been only the fourth press to operate in the Islands, now with a new name, became the fifth.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate only five copies worldwide (three in the U.S., one in the U.K., one in Spain).

 Medina, Manila, 317; Retana, Aparato bibliográfico, 379. Recent marbled paper–covered boards (green and mauve stone pattern); red leather label on front cover. A few minor paper repairs to edges of a few leaves; a very few small pinhole type wormholes, not costing any letters; the brown spotting and staining peculiar to rice paper. Old, brief note lightly red-inked to title-page. Over all a very good copy. (33130)

 Sanders (ca. 1530–81) was a convert to Catholicism following his refusal in 1560 to take the Oath of Supremacy. Having fled England, he lived variously at Rome and Louvain. The present work is “his most influential. . . . Its textual history is complicated. Sander left it unfinished. Only one incomplete manuscript is known, partially annotated by [Robert] Persons [the Jesuit]. The first edition, nominally published in Cologne in 1585, actually appeared from the press of Jean Foigny at Rheims. Its editor, Edward Rishton, reworked at least book 3" (DNB online).

The text is a detailed account of the religious troubles in England during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I, withmany references to Zwinglianism and Calvinism. At the end is John Hart's anonymous account (“Diarium rerum gestarum in Turri Londinensi”) of his imprisonment in the Tower of London, containing also a list of persons imprisoned or executed in the Tower from 1580 to 1584.

This is the second edition and the first printing of the work at Rome: It is enlarged with the just-noted “Diarium” and with “other substantial additions by Robert Persons who saw it through the press” (Allison and Rogers).

Provenance: Purchased from Ludwig Rosenthal's shop in 2000; in a private collection until 2016.

 Edit16 CNCE 26601; Graesse, Trésor de Livres rares et précieux, VI, 262; Allison & Rogers, Contemporary Printed Literature of the English Counter-Reformation, I, 973. Early vellum over pasteboards, raised bands; author and title inked early to spine, and a small, old paper shelf-label to top compartment. Text slightly foxed, two blank margins repaired of old, tear in one leaf repaired. A nice copy. (36737)

 One has here the standard and well-thought-of account of the Sanctuary of Jesus Christ at Chalma, the second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico. The cave housing the Christ Crucified statue was a pre-Columbian sacred site and pilgrimage destination; miraculously the pre-Columbian statue with magical healing power morphed into the Christ image soon after it was visited by early Augustinian friars, who took over the cave and the surrounding area and build a church and religious compound. The original Christ statue was destroyed by fire in the 18th century.

In addition to the wealth of information here about the origins of the cave as a site of miracles, its history throughout the colonial period, and accounts of miracles occurring there, this work also has importantbiographies of Augustinians of the 17th century who played important roles in the care and perpetuation of the site.

The engraving shows the cave, the Christ figure, pilgrims, and Augustinian friars.

 Later German edition of this unofficial, anti-papal history of the Council of Trent by Fra Paolo Sarpi (1552–1623), first published in 1619. The German text is printed in gothic with Latin footnotes in roman and italic type. Sidenotes, also in German, are found in the main sections of each part, and handsome woodcut initials, headpieces, and tailpieces decorate the text throughout. There is one set of letterpress diagrams in the second part, and the volumes offerall three engraved frontispieces called for, being portraits of the author, Paul III, and Julius III, by “Bause” (Johann Friedrich Bause, 1738–1814) and “Schleven” (probably Johann Friedrich Schleuen, 1739–84), at the beginning of the first three parts. All four parts have separate title-pages.

Binding/Provenance: Contemporary full vellum withgilt-stamped supralibros “Fridericus Rex Prussiae. A. 1764.” on front covers of both volumes, suggesting they were presented to the King of Prussia that year, just after the final part was printed. Bright red edges.

 Bindings as above, both a little soiled, with noticeable but small spots on back cover of first vol. and front cover of second, spines rubbed erasing old ink titles and library markings. Four volumes only of six, bound in two; old-fashioned institutional rubber-stamps on title-pages and ink markings on front pastedowns. Light foxing, a few small holes from natural paper flaws, and one naturally occurring tear in part two. A single small hole resulting from chemicals in the paper in parts two and four; a few stray ink marks from the press. In good shape, printed on nice, fibrous paper and remarkably clean. (30343)

 First Italian translation of Savonarola's Expositio in Psalmum LXXIX “Qui regis Israel” (Florence: Francesco Bonaccorsi, for Piero Pacini, 28 Apr. 1496). The study is of St. Ambrose's rendering of that psalm into a hymn on the Virgin Birth, and this translation appeared only six weeks after that Latin-language edition. Written and published during Savonarola's reign over Florence, it is not one of his writings banned by the Index Librorum Prohibitorum; it represents Savonarola at a peak of his worldly and rhetorical powers, and it was several times reprinted.

This book is “around” in libraries; ISTC locates 12 U.S. copies.But on the market, it is a different story!

 The reformist Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola (1452–98) famously delivered many invectives against greed and grandiosity at Florence from 1490 until his execution. Although his call for poverty and piety appealed to many Florentines — San Marco, where Savonarola was made Prior in 1491, reportedly became so inundated with people that he had to preach at the Duomo! — the fiery self-proclaimed prophet quickly lost favor with officials; his sermons censuring the government and his vitriolic criticism of the Church ultimately led to his excommunication by Alexander VI in May 1497, and topublic burning at the stake in June of the next year. His apocalyptic sermons were (posthumously) placed on the Index.

The present volume contains 19 sermons on the first epistle of St. John, concerned with Christian life and the danger posed by false teachers. Savonarola delivered them ca. 1490 (advent 1491, according to Villari), having recently returned to Florence from years teaching and preaching in nearby Italian cities. Each begins with a scriptural reference, followed by exegesis and contemporary application.

Printed in gothic type (title in roman), 35–36 lines in single-column format, with side- and shouldernotes, the volume offers handsome criblé woodcut initials at the beginning of every sermon but two; sermons 9 and 17 instead have guide letters. The title-page bears a very large “phoenix” printer's device; errata are printed on the final two leaves.

 A neat, attractive compilation of several of Savonarola's writings including his exposition on St. Ambrose's rendering of Psalm 80 into a hymn on the Virgin Birth; his famous, extended essay on the Penitential Psalm beginning “Miserere mei Deus,” written in prison after he had confessed to heresy under torture; and a meditation on Psalm 31 that he had not quite finished at the time of his execution, this being the psalm beginning in the KJV, “In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed . . .”

Also present is a printing of his Regulae septem ad omnes religiosos, a brief and strict rule for priests, friars, and brothers wishing to live a proper life.

Title-page in roman type and with a large woodcut of Savonarola in his cell writing (Savonarola on the left, window without bars). The text is printed in gothic with three large woodcut initials. The printer's large, handsome device appears below the colophon.

“Novissime cum textuu[m] annotationibus omnia diligenter recognita.”

 Adams S493; Essling 1464; Giovannozzi 120. 20th-century vellum over light paste boards, old style. Top margin of verso of title-page with small paper repair. Brown stain in in lower part of some leaves but not all; into text on most affected leaves but not all. Lacks final blank (only). Good+. (27052)

 Vernacular, Italian translation of Savonarola’s highly personal
commentary and meditation on “Miserere mei Deus,” the Penitential
Psalm (50 according to Septuagint numbering, 51 in Masoretic numbering), in
which he implores God to “do what He will” to him (our translation,
f. [13]r), accompanied on the final page by aspeech
Savonarola delivered on the day of his execution, 23 May 1498,
wrestling with his conscience and asking God, and everyone, to pardon the temporal
and spiritual errors he had unwittingly committed — the priest's final
sad statement following his having confessed, after standing three trials and
under extreme torture, to crimes he originally believed and swore he did not
commit, i.e., heresy and promoting schism within the government. Following the
speech on the same page is Psalm 1 in Latin (first line) and Italian.

Savonarola wrote this painful document in prison, completing it on or before
8 May 1498. Significantlyone
of the most widely read and reprinted of Savonarola's works,
it was in its original Latin version immediately distributed in Florence and
quickly translated into Italian, this particularly early version at the instance
of “certain devoted women” (our translation, f. [1]r). Indeed
Giovannozzi lists a total of 32 printings in four languages from 1498 to 1581,
ISTC noting of this one that it is “printed in a later state of the
type associated with the Printer of the Caccia di Belfiore, who is identified
as Lorenzo Morgiani and Johannes Petri by A. Tura, in La Bibliofilia 101 (1999)
pp.1–16.” A
neat, handsome incunable production.

 First editionof this dialogue “nunc primum impressus” in seven books written by the vexatious Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola (1452–98) on God, faith, and ecclesia. The sixth book De vita futura treats punishment of the Bad and the glory of the Good.

Of this work there exist two redactions, both published posthumously: One incomplete in three books (Venice 1537), and this, complete in seven. Savonarola probably composed these consolations ca. 1497 (see Giovannozzi) — the year he was excommunicated, and one year prior to his public burning at the stake in Florence.

Printed in roman type, 23 lines in single-column format, with side- and shouldernotes and with woodcut initials at the beginning of each book, this bears on its title-page a woodcut printer's device of a phoenix in flames facing the sun. Errata are printed on the recto of the final leaf.

 Savonarola's detailed instructions for confessors are here newly edited by the philologist Lucas Olchinensis Panaetius (fl. 1518) and dedicated to Antonio Contarini (d. 1524), a patriarch of Venice. First published coincident with Savonarola's death, this manual was reprinted at least 42 times in the next 200 years and was so popular that the Pope in 1581 contributed a preface! Specifically addressed to young priests, it reviews various sins, describes the qualities of a good confessor, guides the reader through interrogation techniques, and assigns appropriate penances, thereby bearingsingular, significant witness to Savonarola's effective work as a conventional priest, not a radical public reformer loudly auguring the Apocalypse. The Rudimentary References of Elias de Ferrariis (d. 1348), another tool for novice priests, is appended starting on p. 45.

A famous woodcut of Savonarola seated to the left of a desk in his cell, writing, beneath a crucifix and a window without bars, introduces an edition of his text that is neatly printed in Gothic type with two large, ten-line criblé woodcut initials beginning the major sections.

Marks of readership: Sparse underlining, a couple annotations, and manicules, all in early ink.

 Adams S469; CNCE 23210; Sander 6767; Essling 1465; Giovannozzi no. 27; D. Weinstein, “Il Manuale per confessori del Savonarola,” in Memorie Domenicane, N. 29 (1998), pp. 21–38. 20th-century patterned paper–covered boards, faded blue edges (with a few marginal stains from the blue paint); trimmed close, especially at foot. Repairs to first and final leaves affecting one word in the title and a few letters in the letter to the editor; small tear to one leaf's upper margin crossing headline without loss; final quire with most leaves repaired at gutter and two at the top inner margin; leaves 92 to end with both a very small semicircular area of insect-gnawing to fore-edges and a modest brown stain in the upper outer corners not affecting text. A good, evocative little book. (27049)

 Composed in 1497 and translated by the author himself from Latin into Italian
shortly thereafter, this is Savonarola'sbest and grandest work (Ridolfi), and one of his most popular, being endlessly reprinted until the 18th century. A letter from Domenico Benivieni, a
Florentine priest, introduces this edition, which is comprised of four books defending
Savonarola's faith. An index at the end lists all the chapters, including “Che la religione
christiana conuenienteme[n]te parla della pene de dannati” (Libro III, cap. vi), and “Che la
Secta de Mahumetani e' tucta irrationabile” (Libro IV, cap. vii).

Theelaborate title-page, which is printed in reverse fashion against a black background, features a woodcut border in eight compartments — flora, armor, and mythical creatures adjoining and surmounting a shield left blank, flanked by two falcons, in the bottom compartment — all framing the title and a large woodcut Crucifixion vignette with God the Father above Christ on the cross and angels surrounding Him. (A different, smaller Crucifixion woodcut beneath the colophon features Mary and John as witnesses/mourners.) The text is in
Italian, printed in roman with elegant white-line initials in various sizes.

The Vatican Incunabula catalogue notes that this commentary was, “In fact written after Savonarola's death, probably by the Dominican Simone (or Placido) Cinozzi”; ISTC adds, “The Dominicans ordered an enquiry into its authorship and publication on 24 May 1499.” Placido (Lorenzo) Cinozzi (1464–1503) is famous for his Epistola of 1501–03, considered the earliest extant biography of Savonarola; he first heard Savonarola preach at San Lorenzo in 1484 and later knew him at San Marco, where Cinozzi joined the Dominican order in 1496.

Evidence of readership: Early ink manicule in the margin of f. 3v, pointing to a passage beseeching God to free His people, who are in great danger; and some letters finished with the same ink (ff. 3v–4r).

 Short refutation making short work of the possibility that Pope Joan ever existed, here translated into Italian from German by Nicolo Pierio. A Jesuit priest and Austrian witch hunter responsible for the Plainacher Witch Affair of 1583 (which led to the only case of witch-burning in Vienna), Scherer (1540–1605) here “proves” there was never a female pope using various sources, including the Bible. It was clearly a popular text, as DeBacker-Sommervogel notes that there were three editions of this translation published in 1586 by three different printers, two in Venice and one in Milan.

The title is printed within an illustrated woodcut border and the text offers illustrated initials plus head- and tailpieces.

Of this edition we locate only five U.S. libraries and one Canadian one reporting ownership. One other U.S. library reports owning a different 1586 edition.

 EDIT16 CNCE 27780; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VII, 749. Hunter green textured cloth, lightly rubbed and discolored; a few pinpricks and a very short tear to spine. All outer upper corners with waterstaining from two different incidents, two leaves with short tears, and a pinprick hole to one margin; provenance marking as above, two small inked notations on title-page margins, light pencilling on endpapers.A fascinating subject covered by an interesting author. (37158)

 Ignaz Schwarz (16901763) was a Jesuit and a professor of humanities, philosophy, and history. In this four-part work he discusses the philosophical foundation of natural law and its basic applications, in the process discussing matters as diverse as the nature of moral acts; the law of the family; slavery, employment and service; the nature of property; sovereignty; just war and the law of war; and treaties and other elements of what is now known as international law. Schwarz critiques Protestant authors, such as Grotius, Puffendorf, Heineccius, and Thomasius, and other writers on these subjects, pointing out where they agree with and where they differ from Catholic teaching.

He first published his Institutiones juris in 1741, and, according to DeBacker-Sommervogel, this is the third of six editions. Present here are parts 1 and 2 of 4, in which, however, all the matters above listed are discussed. This edition is printed with the title-page in red and black, a woodcut headpiece and tailpieces, and a plethora of side- and footnotes.

 Seabra da Silva (1732–1813) was a fidalgo and close ally of Pombal in his war on the Jesuits. The present work is a translation of his 1768 work in Portuguese of Petiçaö de recurso apresentada em audiencia publica a Sua Magestade, sobre o ultimo e critico estado desta monarchia, depois que a Sociedade chamada de Jesus, foi desnaturalisada e proscripta dos dominios des França e Hispana.

It is a study of the Society of Jesus and its expulsion from Spain and France and the consequences thereof, and it was presented to Joseph of Portugal so that he might anticipate similar consequences following his order of expulsion.

 Sermons written by a Jesuit who preached “with an eloquence surpassed only by his holiness,” according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (online), which also refers to Segneri as “Italy’s greatest orator” after St. Bernadine of Siena and Savanarola.

A Roman edition also appeared in 1694, the year of the work’s first appearance; the present edition is more uncommon: We trace only one U.S. library copy of it.

 DeBacker-Sommervogel, VII, 1079. Boards covered in music-printed paper from an 18th-century antiphonal, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Title-page and one other stamped by a now-defunct institution. Light spotting throughout, more pronounced to first and last few leaves; some corners dog-eared.

 John Sergeant (16221707) converted to Catholicism from the Church of England after researching the history of the early Church. He was ordained to the priesthood and undertook a career as a controversialist against Protestantism, writing many works. This one is a Catholic answer to Henry Hammond's (160560) Of Schisme, and John Bramhall's (15941663) Just Vindication of the Church of England from the Unjust Aspersion of Criminal Schism. Hammond and Bramhall were leading Anglican divines of the high-church party, and in attacking them Sergeant reveals the influence that that party still commanded, even at its lowest ebb under Cromwell. His argument is largely a defense of the Papacy against those who would assert the historical independence of the Church of England. This is the sole edition of this important Recusant work.

This is a volume that shows such controvery was definitely not “dry”; we have photographed the start of Sergeant's explanation/defense of his personal animus against his antagonist, and also the “Stationer's” description of the polemical feast to come, this worked out as a menu or “Bill of Fare ”!

Provenance: On the recto of the second front fly-leaf is a presentation inscription: “For my honnord & best frind, Master John Bulteel.” The most likely John Bulteel is the one who was created M.A. at Oxford in 1661, and later served as secretary to Edward, Earl of Clarendon.

 Wing S2589; ESTC R6168; Clancy, English Catholic Books, 16411700, 897. On Sergeant, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LI, 25153. On Bramhall, see: DNB, VI, 203206. On Hammond, see: DNB, XXIV, 24246. Contemporary mottled calf, with remnants of modest double gilt rules on covers; rubbed and joints open, front cover detached. Browning from turn-ins on fly-leaves, last leaves, and fore-edge of title-page, as well as moderately to a few signatures, with a little occasional light waterstaining; otherwise, the expectable degrees of age-toning and spotting only. (7067)

 Partially unopened copy of the first edition of Shoberl's indictment of the Catholic Church for the oppression of dissenters in the pre-Reformation era and of Protestants beginning with the Reformation. The chapters generally address one dissenting group each, and the history of the Church's reaction to it.

 Bound as above, spines sunned and upper corners bumped; tops of spines slightly discolored and each with slight tearing in same area. A few gatherings carelessly opened, in one case with upper outer corners torn across yet no actual loss. Ex–social club library, and each volume has: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, no other markings. A nice set. (28758)

 “Polymath” is the term most often applied to Siguenza y Gongora (1645–1700), and indeed he was a cosmographer, philosopher, chronicler, poet, biographer, historian, cartographer, and priest.

Here he is wearing the hats of a chronicler and a biographer, as he, “an intellectual friend of Sor Juana [Ines de la Cruz] and at the same time a man of science and religiosity, [writes] the history of the convent of Jesus Maria and the biography of some of its notable nuns.” His Parayso occidental is “a classic example of baroque[-era] writing on the monastic life of nuns [in Mexico]” (both quotations from Lavrin, p. 205). As such, the volume is important; and even apart from its association with the Spanish world's Tenth Muse,” it isa basic starting place for the study of nuns, the economics of nunneries, and the political life of the same.

As is increasingly the case with Mexican imprints of the 17th century, it islittle found in the marketplace.

Provenance: 18th-century ownership signature on title-page and first leaf of preliminaries of the Conde del Fresno de la Fuente.

 Medina, Mexico, 1328; Palau 312973; Asuncion Lavrin, “Cotidianidad y espiritualidad en la vida conventual novohispana: Siglo XVII,” in Memoria del Coloquio Internacional Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz y pensamiento novohispano (1995). Late 19th-century Mexican quarter dark green morocco with mottled green paper sides; binding rubbed and abraded. Pencilling on front fly-leaf and title-page verso; top margins closely cropped occasionally costing top of letters of running heads and foliation. Worming, chiefly in margins but occasionally into the text, not costing words, sometimes repaired; first and last few leaves with old repairs to corners and margins and a bit of text restored in pen and ink. Withal, a good++ copy of important work that is not often on the market. (34203)

 The complex title-page text here is printed within a border of type ornaments; the text of the oratorio as sung in the Barcelona school festival noted is presented within its own border of printers' ornaments and printed partially in double-column format. One large, beautiful, two-thirds of a page woodcut of St. Thomas Aquinas faces the first page within a triple border of ornaments that fills the page. The printing here is crisp and lovely; the performances took place in a Barcelona escuela.

 Socinus, a jurist-theologian from Siena, first met with Polish Antitrinitarians in 1578. He moved to Krakow in 1580 and devoted the rest of his life to fostering a cohesive religious movement that denied the Holy Trinity based on rational exegesis of Scripture. While Socinianism and the Radical Reformation won many followers, Socinus (Fausto Sozzini, 1539–1604) was also attacked — in writing and, in 1594 and 1598, on the street!

These
are the first two volumes of the only edition, first issue, of the first and
most important collection of Socinian documents. The title-page,
table of contents, and preface to the first volume introduce and illuminate
the series Bibliotheca fratrum polonorum as a whole, that having comprised
ten tomes published clandestinely ca. 1665–92 by the Polish Brethren called
Unitarians. The near-complete works of Socinus himself, leading that parade
of texts, occupy these first two, which were actually published three years
after vols. III–V (by Johann Crell and Jonasz Szlichtyng), all withfalse
imprints.

Excerpts of Socinus's acrid debates with protagonists of the Reformation on baptism, redemption, (im)mortality, and the nature of Christ pervade the present volumes. A chapter of letters to friends (vol. I) includes exchanges not only with the founder of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church Francis Dávid and a Polish noblewoman named Sophia Siemichovia, but also Marcello Squarcialupi, Matthäus Radecke, Jan Niemojewski, Johannes Völkel, and Christophorus Ostorodt, among others.

The minister-turned-printer Kuyper (1629–91) produced only Socinian works in the decade 1663–73, many edited by Andreas Wissowatius, Socinus's grandson who had an influential hand in the present opera. The printer Samuel Przypkowski, whose shop produced earlier volumes in the series of which these are a part, contributed the brief biography of Socinus here; and he has graced the text with refined tailpieces, large initials against a floriated background, and woodcut devices to the section titles (some initialed “HB” for printer Hendrick Boom). There are occasional Hebrew references in vol. II.

 This pastoral letter is unusual in that the head of the Discalced Carmelites of Spain sends it to only the nuns of his province. He surveys “perfection” as an ideal and aim for all, especially the Brides of Christ.

It is also rare: This item isnot in NUC or WorldCat, and has only one holding in the CCPB.

 Not in Palau. Removed from a volume of pamphlets and now in later marbled paper wrappers; light age-toning. (36686)

 Only edition of this history of the Milanese Church, in Italian, by the prefect of Milan's Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Nicolò Sormani (d. ca. 1777); he affirms its apostolic origin, i.e., the legend of St. Barnaba, chiefly by way of a syllogism declaring the authority of oral tradition — that a tradition is true if it is antique and there is no reason to doubt it; that the legend of St. Barnaba's founding the Church is old and inscrutable; and that therefore her legend is true — though an appendix supplies the reader with original documents he nonetheless cites, and an editor's note observes that he himself translated many of them from Latin into Italian for the first time. With this publication, Sormani continued his quest to quell the belligerent hordes of sophists and provocateurs who questioned ecclesiastical traditions, having first published a treatise on the subject in 1740 (De origine apostolica ecclesia Mediolanensis a s. Barnaba apostolo deducta), as the first dissertation in a two-part volume; but this is the only production in the vernacular.

The Italian text is accompanied by citations and original documentation, which is in both Italian and, mostly, Latin; it is printed in roman and italic, with one large floriated woodcut initial and a decorative headpiece at the beginning of the first chapter. The final leaf contains the imprimatur and errata.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only two copies in U.S. libraries, one of which has been deaccessioned.

 Contemporary vellum over boards with four laces visible on covers at spine extremities, gilt title in painted spine compartment, red marbled edges; binding somewhat soiled and bumped and a bit warped, with light worming not penetrating the leather. Title rubbed affecting a few letters; a light brown stain running along the gutter on two leaves and a crescent stain at the bottom of one other not affecting text; small tears at a couple of outer margins; and a handful of natural paper flaws, especially notable to two leaves that literally came up short in the press and therefore have “deckle” lower edges. Old pressure-stamps to title-leaf and a few others, a five-digit accession number stamped in two places, old library pencillings, indications of removed bookplates and card pocket; minor dampstaining, foxing, and age-toning throughout, most notable in the first and last two gatherings. Recital of faults and “library features” makes this sound much less appealing than it is.This is a sound, attractive, pleasing book. (29568)

 Sole edition of this exercise in anti-Catholica, targeting one of the best-known and most active participants in the Catholic Emancipation movement. Southey, then poet laureate, engendered much debate over his Book of the Church, and in the present volume answers Butler’s criticism of that work by depicting notable ecclesiastical events in an unflattering light.

 Viceroy Branciforte promugates a royal decree concerning details as to religious groups' and individuals' being allowed (or not) to make wills or inherit; the decree reserves to civil authority the control of laws governing wills and inheritance.

This is amplification of the “Nuevo Codigo de Leyes” and the “Pragmática Sanción” of 6 July 1792, andWorldCat locates only one copy worldwide.

 Not in Medina, Mexico. One fold horizontally across center; a few creases and edges just a bit irregular. Very good condition. (27950)

 A separately published account of the discussions of this subject held in the Spanish Cortes between 8 December 1812 and 5 February 1813 and contained in vols. 16 and 17 of the Diario of the Cortes.

By the middle of the 18th century the Inquisition's power had waned and its role in daily life was confined almost exclusively to the censorship of books and attempting to control the spread of new ideas. During the French domination of Spain and the puppet reign of Joseph Bonaparte (1808–12), the Inquisition was abolished. The Cortes in 1813 debated reestablishing it and in the end decided not to.

Spencer, John. Scripture mistaken. The ground of Protestants and common plea of all new reformers against the ancient Catholicke religion of England. Many texts quite mistaken by novelists are layd open, and redressed in this treatis, by restoring them to theyr proper sense, according to which it is made manifest, that none of them are of force against the ancient Catholicke religion. Antwerpe: By Iames Meursius, 1655. 8vo (15.5 cm; 6.125"). [16], 253, 252–65, 268–369, 400–405, [9] pp. (pagination erratic; book complete).$1800.00

Click the images for enlargements.

 Spencer (1601–71, spelled “Spenser” on title-page; sometimes known as John Tyrwhitt) “matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1618 and during his time in Cambridge converted to the Roman Catholic church. He joined the Society of Jesus in Watten on 14 March 1626. From the noviciate he moved to Liège to study theology in either 1628 or 1629. He was ordained priest on 18 March 1632. He completed his final year of Jesuit formation, tertianship, in Ghent in 1634" (DNB online).

From then until his death he served or worked variously as a church prefect, catechist, missionary, professor of moral theology, controversialist, and military chaplain. He lived in England and on the continent. In defending Catholicism he addresses many of the doctrinal issues and religious practices that were contentious: e.g., the worship of saints, angels, and holy images (and the making of the latter); justification by faith alone; purgatory; and the merit of good works.

The work is printed single-column, in roman with some italic, and with woodcut initials and tailpieces. It ends with an index.

 Uncommon first edition: The first three volumes of this important
collection of documents pertaining to the history of Silesia. Stenzel (1792–1854),
a German historian, was for some years the archivist of the Silesian provincial
archives and made excellent use of his position; this work offers a great deal
of seldom-seen and valuable primary source material, including accounts of St.
Hedwig, Duchess of Silesia, and Dorothea Beier, the 15th-century mystic, along
with the Chronica Polonorum and Samuel Benjamin Klose's Darstellung
der inneren Verhältnisse der Stadt Breslau vom Jahre 1458 bis zum Jahre
1526.

Additional volumes continued to be published for many years, under the stewardship
of other editors; Stenzel was responsible for I through V.

 Recent black-flecked paper–covered boards, spines with
printed paper title and volume labels. Some upper edges in vol. I and lower
corners in vol. II bumped; all edges stained red except for vol. III, which
has speckled edges. Vol. III (only) with light offsetting/show-through from
print; in fact a clean, nice set. (25346)

Englishmen on theFrench Revolution

Letters to“Dr. Priestley in America”

[Stone, John Hurford, et al.]. Copies of original letters recently written by persons in Paris to Dr. Priestley in America. Taken on board a neutral vessel. Third edition. London: J. Wright, 1798. 8vo (20.7 cm, 8.1"). 36 pp.$275.00

Click the images for enlargements.

 Third edition of these letters from France, written by expatriate Englishmen who describe the state of contemporary political affairs while France mobilized in preparation for war; the missives are annotated by an anonymous editor who urges the public to beware “the devices of these profligate traitors” (p. x). The first letter is signed by Stone, with the others bearing no attributions—although the third letter mentions a French translation by M. Say of the writer’s “Swiss Travels,” which seems to indicate Helen Maria Williams. Meriting brief references are such interesting topics asthe state of Catholicism in France, the vulnerability of American ships, and an expected shipment of pearl ash on its way from America.

 ESTC N1989; Sabin 92070. Removed from a nonce volume, with sewing holes; now in a Mylar folder. Half-title with small numerical stamp, pencilled notations, a bit of staining and two smears/blots of old red ink. Interior slightly age-toned but clean. (7152)